Nowadays people organize their entire holidays online. The advantage of this is that they can do a lot of the work that was formerly done by travel agents such as booking plane tickets, organizing transfers, booking hotel rooms and excursions and even ordering special meals for vegetarians and people with certain food allergies.

Not only can a traveler customize their holiday as they want by booking everything by themselves on the internet, but they can also avoid having to go on holiday with a group of strangers. They can chose their own itinerary and they can go at their own pace. Online booking has made organizing a holiday very easy and convenient.

However, the downside is that often the price is higher when you book individually. Package tours secure big discounts for hotel rooms and excursions because they have the power of group bookings. The other disadvantage of online booking is the danger of fraud. Most sites require that people give their credit card details to book. These details in the wrong hands can lead to someone spending money on your card without you realizing until you get home and read your statement.

To prevent this, it is a good idea to only use recognized booking sites. Also look for sites that only take your credit card number as a security measure. Many sites leave it to you to pay when you arrive at the hotel or resort. If you do pay online look for the https: code at the start of the URL address. It means that the site has added security.

Finally, sometimes it is not necessary to use a credit card. For example if you are on Koh Samui and you want to do a day trip to Koh Tan and Koh Mudsum all you have to do is phone a travel agent and they will come and pick you up in the morning. You pay on the point of delivery. It is always worth asking about payment if you are not sure. Send an email. If you don’t get a prompt reply then the company is not professional enough to deal with credit cards.